Fall-out shelter ventilator



Oct. 12, 1965 F. R. SWANSON 3,211,363

FALL-OUT SHELTER VENTILATOR Filed Oct. 51, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. M B. 5 war; son

HTTORNEYS Oct 1965 F. R. SWANSON 3,211,363

FALL-OUT SHELTER VENTILATCR Filed 001;. 31, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Frank 8 Swanson HTTORNEYS United States Patent V ...3.,. .1,36 FALL-OUT SHELTER VENTILATOR Frank R. Swansomfldnimia, Micli., assignor to Swanson Manufacturing company, Owosso, Mich, a corporation of Michigan 0 Filed Oct. 31, 1962, Ser; No.- 234,316 3 Claims. (CL 230-=-1-17) This invention relates to ventilating fans for drawing air into a room or enclosure, and more specifically to a fallout shelter ventilating fan designed for both electric and manual operation.

One of the prime objects of the invention is to design an intake ventilating fan by means of which air may be drawn into a room or enclosure in suflicient volume to supply the needs of several persons occupying said room, said fan being equipped with means permitting manual operation thereof in the event electric power is cut off or disconnected, and which will move and circulate approximately seventy eigth cubic feet of air per minute when either manually or electrically driven.

Another object of the invention is to design a ventilating fan of simple, practical and economical construction, and provide means mounted on the fan housing and releasably geared to the fan shaft fof manual operation of the fan unit when for any reason the electric current is cut off.

Still a further object of the invention is to design a fan unit of simple construction which is relatively light in weight and especially adaptable for use for drawing air into fallout shelters designed to guard against fallout from bomb explosions.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims; it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportion and details of construction, without departing from the spirit, or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, sectional, side elevational view showing my ventilating fan unit mounted on one wall of a conventional fallout shelter, the arrows indicating the direction of flow of air.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective, elevational view showing the intake side of the fan housing.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective, elevational view showing the opposite side of the housing.

FIGURE 4 is an inverted plan view, the screen being broken away to show the motor and discharge throat.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary detail side view showing the gearing for manual operation of the fan.

FIGURE 6 is an edge elevational view of the mechanism shown in FIGURE 5, the housing being broken away to show the various parts.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention, and in which like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views thereof. The ventilating fan H to which the instant invention is directed is designed for electric and/or manual operation, and is preferably mounted on a knee brace B secured to the one wall W of a conventional shelter by means of screws or the like.

The fan housing H is preferably, but not necessarily made up of sheet metal and is formed with a flange section 8, mounted on the knee brace B which projects from the wall W, and the fan housing is secured to said knee by means of screws 10 as usual.

A conical shaped section 11 is fitted over an opening 12 provided in the one side wall 13 of said housing, and the 3,211,363 Patented Oct. 12, 1965 cylindrical end 14 of section 11 projects into a suitable passage 15 provided in the wall W, thence a pipe 16 connects the end section 14 with a conventional elbow as shown. A pipe 17 extends upwardly from said elbow and is connected to a screened air filter A containing filtering means (not shown) for filtering the incoming air.

This fan housing H comprises a substantially bowed sheet metal section 19,- the lower ends of which are straight, and an end wall 20 forms a closure for one side of the housing H as shown, and the lower ends of the members 13, 19 and 20 extend downwardly and form a discharge throat 21, which terminates in the flange 8 above described.

A screen 22 is provided over throat opening 21 to prevent the possibility of a hand or any object being caught in the fan with the possibility of serious injury to the individual and/or breakage of the fan, and screws 10 serve to secure said unit to the knee brace B, all as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings.

An electric motor M is mounted off center in the housing H and is provided with radially disposed offset legs 23 disposed in facial contact with the inner face of the side wall 20, and bolts 24, formed with elongated heads 25, are mounted in matching slots 26 provided in said wall, said bolts extending through suitable openings (not shown) in the motor legs for mounting the motor in position in the housing.

A fan blade unit F is mounted on the motor shaft 27 directly adjacent the conical shaped intake section 11 and is driven from the motor, said fan being suitably wired to a junction box 28 mounted on the end wall of the housing as shown, said junction box being connected to a suitable source of power supply, and a switch S is provided on said box for energizing the fan when electric power is available.

The opposite end of the motor shaft 27 projects through the side wall 20 of the housing, and a drive gear 30 is provided on said shaft directly adjacent the end thereof to permit manual operation when electric energy is not available or has been cut off. This manual driving mechanism includes sheet metal housing U, open at its lower end as at 31 and secured to the housing H by means of bolts 32, and bearings (not shown) are mounted in the housing and accommodate a horizontally disposed shaft 33 having gears 34 and 35 secured thereon as a unit, the small gear 34 meshing within and being driven from a gear 36 provided on a shaft 37 which is also mounted in the housing 11, and a crank 38 is secured to the exposed end of shaft 37 by means of a stud 39 to facilitate manual operation of said gears.

The gear 35 is secured to or formed integral with the gear 34, and the shaft 33, together with gears 34 and 35, is longitudinally adjustable in said housing, turned sections 4040 being provided in the shaft 33, and a lever 41 is pivotally mounted on the housing U by means of a pin 42, said lever having a notch 43 in its lower edge at a point intermediate its length for engagement with one of the turned sections 40 of said shaft to hold the shaft in adjusted position.

When it is desired to manually actuate the fan, the shaft 33 is pressed inwardly to bring the gear 30 into toothed driving engagement with the gear 35, the lever 41 is swung down into locking engagement with the turned-section 40 of the shaft 33 and serves to hold the gears 34-36 and 35-30 in driving relation so that by actuation of the crank 38, the fan will be driven accordingly.

When it is desired to disconnect the unit for operation electrically, the lever 41 is swung up out of engagement with the shaft 33 which is then shifted outwardly to shift gear 35 out of engagement with the drive gear 30 so that the manual drive unit will be completely disconnected from the motor.

From the foregoing description, it will be obvious that I have perfected a very simple, practical and effective shelter ventilator fan in which filtered air may be drawn into the filters of the enclosure, and in which the motor can be either electrically or manually driven.

What I claim is:

1. A ventilating fan of the character described comprising: a housing; a second housing on the first mentioned housing; an electric motor including a fan mounted in said first housing on one side wall thereof, the shaft of said motor projecting through the side wall of the first housing into said second housing; a drive gear on the projecting end of the motor shaft; a horizontally disposed, shiftable shaft mounted on said second housing; a pair of rigidily connected gears mounted on said shaft as a unit comprising one large and one small gear; said shaft and unit being shiftable endwise to move the large gear into and out of driving engagement with said motor drive gear; a crank shaft mounted in said second housing above the shiftable gears unit; a crank on said shaft; a gear mounted thereon and engageable with the small gear of said shiftable unit when said gears are moved to predetermined position to drive said motor by means of said crank; longitudinally spaced apart, turned grooves in said shaft, and a lever pivotally mounted in said second housing and engageable in one groove to hold the shaft and gear unit in position for driving operation of said fan by said motor, said lever being shiftable to engagement in the other groove to permit manual crank operation of said fan.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which the small gear is shiftable into driving engagement with the crank gear, and the large gear is simultaneously shiftable into driving engagement with the drive gear of the motor for driving said fan when the crank is actuated.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which a fresh air exhaust opening is provided in the base of the first housing, an intake opening in the side wall of said housing directly adjacent the fan unit, an intake pipe forming a closure for said opening and leading to atmosphere, and a screened cap provided on the open end of said intake pipe.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,329,137 1/20 Oldham 103--207 FOREIGN PATENTS 417,474 8/ 10 France. 697,540 10/40 Germany. 901,030 1/54 Germany. 339,962 4/36 Italy.

87,873 4/5 8 Netherlands. 206,799 12/ 3 9 Switzerland.

KARL J. ALBRECHT, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH H. BRANSON, JR., Examiner. 

1. A VENTILATING FAN OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING: A HOUSING; A SECOND HOUSING ON THE FIRST MENTIONED HOUSING; AN ELECTRIC MOTOR INCLUDING A FAN MOUNTED IN SAID FIRST HOUSING ON ONE SIDE WALL THEREOF, THE SHAFT OF SAID MOTOR PROJECTING THROUGH THE SIDE WALL OF THE FIRST HOUSING INTO SAID SECOND HOUSING; A DRIVE GEAR ON THE PROJECTING END OF THE MOTOR SHAFT; A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED SHIFTABLE SHAFT MOUNTED ON SAID SECOND HOUSING; A PAIR OF RIGIDILY CONNECTED GEARS MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT AS A UNIT COMPRISNG ONE LARGE AND ONE SMALL GEAR; SAID SHAFT AND UNIT BEING SHIFTABLE ENDWISE TO MOVE THE LARGE GEAR INTO AND OUT OF DRIVING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID HOUSING DRIVE GEAR; A CRANK SHAFT MOUNTED IN SAID SECOND HOUSING ABOVE THE SHIFTABLE GEARS UNIT; A CRANK ON SAID SHAFT; A GEAR MOUNTED THEREON AND ENGAGEABLE WITH THE SMALL GEAR OF SAID SHIFTABLE UNIT WHEN SAID GEARS ARE MOVED TO PREDETERMINED POSITION TO DRIVE SAID MOTOR BY MEANS OF SAID CRANK; LONGITUDINALLY SPACED APART, TURNED GROOVES IN SAID SHAFT, AND A LEVER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED IN SAID SECOND HOUSING AND ENGAGEABLE IN ONE GROOVE TO HOLD THE SHAFT AND GEAR UNIT IN POSITION FOR DRIVING OPERATION OF SAID FAN BY SAID MOTOR, SAID LEVER BEING SHIFTABLE TO ENGAGEMENT IN THE OTHER GROOVE TO PERMIT MANUAL CRANK OPERATION OF SAID FAN. 